Fair and the Edgy Boy

He wasn't sure what to wear for this. On some level he didn't care, he had a job and he wasn't there for fun. 
Sometimes he found himself having to remind himself why he does what he does, this was one of those times. 
He got frustrated easily, sometimes with himself. The young avian wasn't dressed up in anything fancy, just his usual attire. He just couldn't bring himself to care today...

He looked around, the cute little tents actually making him smile as he kept walking, keeping an eye on people around him who all gave him stares for clearly not having fun or getting into the spirit of things. The fact he had strange weapons visible on him when he clearly wasn't there for the fair only raised concern - most certainly he would be meeting security soon. 
"Ugh...", he groaned, "I am in no mood for this crap... Of all days, of all places, I got a lead to here."
He just couldn't get the energy to be happy. He just wanted the job over and done with so he could go back to his tree and sleep the day away, maybe he'd feel better tomorrow?

Althalos was having a great time. It had been so long since he actually participated in any of his favorite activities like jousting, sword fighting, even a little archery. He had finally found some time to relax and have fun From all his traveling and heroic deads.

With a soild wack he knocked another would be opponent off his fight in a the ring with his large plastic sword provided him in the dueling area. His eyes glinting with joy as he reached out to help the young man.

"You fought well. However for future reference never use your sword in a way that will unbalance you. Tis not becoming of any would be knight."

After leaving the dueling area and picking up his large sword from the people hold it he placed it on his back and proceeded to explore the grounds. Stuff like this brought back many memories for the ancient figure. His old friends, the king, the queen, the people and kingdom he fought for... but he couldn't dwell on such thoughts. There was fun to be had and thinking about something you couldn't change wouldn't make him feel better. But doing this to remember the happy times would help.

After proceeding to compete in several more games (which he won more than lost) he finally heard the announcement horn soon followed with the loudspeaker system telling everyone one of the main shows was about to start. While nowhere near the same intensity as a real competition, it was still something Althalos liked to see. Perhaps he could one day try being in one such an event.

However time was of the essence if he wanted a good seat and thus he quickly hurried and get one of the front rows. It was a simple show, really the only danger if someone interfered with it. But it was 4 knights that would battle over the princess or princesses given certain circumstances, and they would do all sorts of tests of skill. Althalos continued to watch in amusement, cheering on with the crowd.

The young avian saw the figure with the full set of armor, and was hit with a strange feeling. They didn't feel empty... more the opposite. He didn't see them as an immediate threat, but he was curious.

The announcement was made, and Ash immediately had a thought...

'Hm... First event they mentioned over the intercom. Must be important, like a big show perhaps...? There's a chance the vampire could be there.'

Watching the person of intrigue listen in to the intercom then head off for a tent, he decided to follow after at a distance.
The tent was dimly lit to begin with, and the lighting could easily be put out if someone so much as blew a large fan at them long enough. In fact, it was so dangerous it generally seemed like a bad idea to have torches in a tent. But, given the renaissance theme it seemed it was the best fit...
But not everything had to be authentic. This was dumb, even for the phoenix.

He watched where the knight took his seat, and decided to sit one seat diagonally behind him to get a good look at the show for any issues. He watched the entrance every so often for any offputting figures.

In the center of the stage were four knights... A human human, two hedgehogs, and a fox.
Oh boy. A human. The phoenix didn't like it but he couldn't just pin vampire on him immediately.
One of the hedgehogs wore dark-colored armor, also attracting his attention. He took note.
As figures poured in, one was a young human in lavish clothing, elegant and flowing. Like armor it covered almost everything - were they suppose to be a merchant?
No one else immediately caught the bird's attention, but he himself stuck out like a sore thumb. The nicely dressed human sat close to the avian... the human on stage caught him glaring unconsciously, clearly made uncomfortable but keeping his composure for the show...

All the pieces were in place...

Althalos keeping watching with intrigue and was greatly enjoying the show. Suddenly he froze as an all to familiar chill hit him. Something was here that shouldn't be. Immediately his orange eyes flared as he began scanning the area and people close to him. He didn't find anyone out of the ordinary except a bird behind him that seemed to be watching people and carrying some odd weapons.

"They don't seem to be here for the event... what are they here for?"

As he looked over the bird he soon realized what some of the weapons were. They were vampire weapons. Immediately he felt the fire of his soul increase in intensity. Vampires? Here? Of course... it didn't matter how much the knight battled them or how long it was there would always be those soulless blood suckers. Killing and destroying families and city's.

He began to keep an eye out for anyone else that was outta place. His rather relaxed posture becoming more serious and professional.

He watched the show with vague interest, a smile slowly creeping along his beak as the four knights fought.
The phoenix was getting ready though, two knfights remained, and with a final attack from the hedgehog in dark armor, the human knight had fallen.

The bird watched intently at the dark hedgehog as they went on about defeating the other knights and claiming his prize...

'3... 2... 1...'

The Knight got close to the princess... and then the lights went out. Some confusion rang out among many of the Mobians, some even that you'd expect to be able to see in the dark actually freaking out.
Then there was a blood curdling scream.

"Well fuck, saw that coming but I was hoping I could come out of this with only a monster casualty. Time to get to wor-", and just as he jumped into the arena, the lights lit up and... the knight and the princess were gone.
"What the hell?!", the phoenix cawed out in utter confusion as some pretty in the crowd raised their voices in fear and confusion, some even screaming. He turned to the human suspect that was sitting behind him earlier, they seemed to be running off... with a lot if the crowd. The avian was in utter disbelief.
He began heading to wear the princess was before, concerned about security soon coming but needed to see something...
Blood had spilt on a bootprint. None of the knights wore boots, in fact he could see the knights' footwear along the ground as well, including what was presumably the black knight's.
He was so uncertain... Boots?! Who the heck was wearing boots, and if he find a good way to compare these bootprints to other's he could probably find the person who did it... but he couldn't! So it was useless!

And he was clearly contaminating evidence of a crime scene so after a short bit he ran back into the crowd, looking around at anyone who stayed behind in the tent for whatever reason.

As the lights went out and came up again Althalos jumped up looking on in confusion. What trickery was this? Who could even make it out with someone in tow like that unless... his metal hands closed tightly as he quickly began to scan the area looking for the either the knight who won or the princess.

He didn't see them but he did see the bird from before. Without hesitation he got up and approached him. His hand on the blade on his back.

"Excuse me there young sir. I don't know who you are or why you are here but I recognize some of those tools you are carrying..." Althalos's eye's narrowed as stared at him, "If you wish to get out of this unharmed you will come with me and not alert anyone."

The dark grey armored knight motioned to another entrance of the tent. Still gripping the handle of his weapon tightly.

The voice caught him off guard and he turned to face the person who was seemingly threatening him.

"W- woah, hold on bub! If you recognize a hunter's tools you shouldn't be threatenin' me.", the bird said with his wings up as if surrendering, before getting close to the knight, putting a feather on the chest plate, "Unless you're the vamp I came for- let me see your shoes." He looked down, looking to see if he had leather boots or not.

He apparently didn't care about the threat.

Wasting no time Althalos flicked Ash on the back of the neck with his metal fingers. 

"For someone who's apparently a hunter you sure don't have the professionalism to know never to expose your neck in the presence of a suspected vampire or even when you think one is around," he crossed his arms and stood in a posture of authority. His bright orange eyes being the only thing you could see through the open area in his helmet, "Now, if you really want to catch one we better get moving before he gets to far and hurts anyone else."

The bird jumped, his feathers ruffled as he began waving his wings around as if trying to fend the knight off while giving him a stare - you could literally hear him saying "no touchy" off of actions alone.
Still, the cockheaded bird was not fond of being corrected or being told he did something wrong, and was seething.
He did have to agree though - one person was attacked already, he'd prefer others weren't.
The glowing orange eyes seemed very unnatural to the bird.

"Well, I guess we better get goin'. But don't touch me like that ever again, dude. Seriously, ya' weirdin' me out as is. What's your name, anyways?", he ranted on as he headed toward the exit that the knight had motioned toward, clearly frustrated. He was already in a sucky mood, didn't need some douche in a metal suit, now slightly smudged with ashes where the bird had touched him, telling him he was doing his job wrong.

The metal knight walked ahead of the bird. Keeping a very alert posture.

"My name is Althalos Karvine the fourth. But you can call me Althalos or "Ash" best you just call me by my first name."

He continued until they reached the other exited and passed through into the evening light of day. The large forest that surrounded the place neat created a canopy that cover the area for miles. Something you get when the renaissance was being held a fair distance away fom any city.

"We need to search quickly. With this much shade in every direction there is no telling where the vampire could be. Though he couldn't have gone far, he would need to be rather desperate for blood to attack during the day with so many people around..."

Althalos began to search the area around them looking through all the foot prints until he found a boot track followed by what seemed to be drag marks. A few bloods drops were mixed with the tracks.

"We need to move quickly before that young lady comes to harm. Hurry, this way." He quickly dashed of following the tracks wherever they made lead to.

Hearing this guy's name was Ash, he gave him a sideways glance, "Heh, what a small world uh... 'Ash'. The name's Aidan, though most people who know me call me Ash. Or Pyro. It's a long story..."

Stepping out into the sunlight with Althalos, Aidan took in the scenery as Althalos found tracks, the boots...

"In all honesty I don't know who got it, though I'm certain the vamp, whoever it was, couldn't bite through metal. I feel like the Princess is probably dead, let's just make sure he doesn't do like he did to the girl.", Aidan explained, being quite the downer about it... though also seeming slightly apathetic. Though what could you expect from a gray-feathered bird that was this much of an asshole, and whose job was to hunt monsters. Clearly he was a little bit cynical but he certainly didn't seem like he enjoyed it, and given his attitude you could guess he wasn't forced into it either...

Althalos continued until he lost the tracks along the edge of the stalls that lead into the trailers and tents for the preformers and workers. The tracks then got mangled up with all the other tracks and Althalos couldn't follow them any more.

"They have to be around her somewhere..."

He held out his hand and with a spark it ignited on fire. His eyes glowing brighter as he did so. He began to walk fowards holding out his flaming hand as if scanning for something.

Aidan stared at Althalos for a moment as the armored figure moved forward, crossing his wings.
He took a look around, even staring intensely with his bird eyes through cracks, not necessarily seeing anything strange or suspicious yet.
He turned back to Althalos, "What are ya' even doin', dude...? Here, watch this." Aidan immediately took a few steps back, before running up to a trailer than using his speed to help climb up the trailer's side to it's roof where he looked around with the better view...
It was from here that he saw... something dragging an armored figure through the woods.
He jumped down and moved forward in front of Althalos, "Alth, weird guy carryin' a body into the woods, 12 o'clock let's go!"

Althalos extinguished the flames as he dashed off in the direction ash pointed. A moment later he caught up with the figure and stopped several yards away, pulling his large blade out in a single quick fluid motion as if he had done this particular thing a thousand times before.

"Halt! State your intentions and drop that man."

Althalos's eye's flared with an unearthly light as he waited for a response.

Aidan followed closely behind Althalos as they chased the figure down. Eventually, they caught up, backing the man up against a tree.

It was the overly dressed 'merchant' guy, who would have guessed.
Carrying the knight, who seemed to be passed out, the merchant smirked softly, staring them both down with blood red eyes hidden slightly by the headdress.
Without a word, the figure ripped the helmet off and threw it at them, causing heavy scratches along his neck and head.
Using the helmet as a distraction, the figure jumped back against the tree, seeming to slide off it slightly before jumping to another tree nearby.

The chase continued.

Aidan had equipped the Warpaint, extending its blades and getting ready to attack, when the helmet smacked him in the head.
"FUCK!", he cawed out before watching the man dash off.
He immediately looked to Althalos, embarrassed and rather infuriated, before running off after the vampire, using the Warpaint to...
swing around like a fucking comic super hero what the heck...?

Althalos couldn't help chuckling a bit at Ash getting flustered. Wasting no tim he gave chase behind the swinging ash.
As he ran he spin around and with deadly accuracy launched his s e ord right at the vampire cutting into it's leg as the blade shot past him. Althalos then quickly got ahead of the vampire to box it in between him and ash.

"Give it up. Your not getting away creature of shadows."

The vampire soon slowed his dash with a gruff grunt before seeing Althalos. 
"Oh, how rude of you to ruin my fun...", the vampire began, teasing. He stared deeply into the knight's eyes... then smiled viciously as his eye's widened with intrigue. 

Then he dropped the black knight in his arms as he recoiled in pain, the silver blade of Aidan's odd katars tearing through the fabric and into the villain's shoulder, before he pulled himself toward the vampire, viciously digging into the arm before slamming down and landing on the vampire's back. 

"Aaah- what the bloody hell- who do you think you are, avian?!" 

"The name's Ash, and if you thought you were gonna get away with livin' as some monster freak and feast on innocent lives, you were dead w-"

Interupted again, Ash probably should have just killed him, or at least pinned his head down so he couldn't get hit in the face with the vampire's head. The back was impaled by the beak slightly but Ash had backed away.
The blade was still stuck in the shoulder though, and while he could stand he was still clearly in pain and couldn't risk touching it given it was silver and would only cause more pain.
The vampire was seething, "OK, you got me, fuck me right? Guess I don't have a right to live, right?! Maybe I deserve it but Chaos damn it I don't know of other options. If this birdbrained hunter is how I think he is, he better never figure out whatever you are because you aren't mortal either!"

"Everyone has a choice. You could've made a choic to find ways to not hurt innocent people and live in peace."

Althalos dashed forwards and grabbed him from the front. His eyes burning with an unnatural fire.

"Now... I'm giving you a chance: find another way, or be burned away."

"A choice...?", the vampire mocked with a vicious chuckle, "You don't know much of modern hunters, knight. We are not moral creatures, even if I saw another way, a hunter would still kill me... Speaking of which-"

Ash was rushing back to the vampire, jumping back on top of him, and wrapping the blade around the vampire's neck. He was going to either decapitate him or potentially choke him with silver.

Althalos gave a deep chuckle as his grip tightened on the vampires collar.

"Modern hunters eh... ?  Yeah I know..."

Without warning Althaloses hand once again burts into flame and involped the vampire. The searing heat wasn't felt physically but in the soul, It's unyeileding fury burning through. Luckily Althalos kept it from hitting Ash as his continued to burn through the vampire.

"I'm, how you say.... old school."

The vampire grit his teeth in frustration and pain.
Althalos didn't seem to understand. Gladly, neither did Ash, though that was to be expected.

After a bit, the vampire's soul burned, and Ash finished the job with the blade closing on his neck, killing the creature...

"Well, that was easy. Maybe I should work with others more often...?"

Althalos didn't respond as he dropped the smoldering body. His eyes had a blank look to them as he turned away, putting his blade on his back.

"Don't think it is over yet. We must find the girl from before. If there is a chance she's alive we may be able to save her. That or her or the performer may be turned... not to.mention vampires usual don't travel alone."

Althalos quickly made his way to the downed performer to check on him.

If the vampire didn't kill him himself the constant battery, scratches, and dragging probably did. It was clear the knight fought against the vampire but the vampire didn't even get a bite before the poor hedgehog probably died of bleeding out...
Well shit.

"Hm... I guess it's a good idea to check to see if the girl is around and alright. None of my info. pointed toward multiple vamps' though, so I highly doubt there are more unless the others hid better.", Ash explained as he looked to Althalos, the blank eyes giving him a bad feeling, "Hey, dude, you okay?"

If Althalos could remove his helmet and show the bird an actual face he would just see the face of a person who already accepted the fate of those involved in the mess.

"I'm fine. Vampires just... frustrate me. Of everything in the world they choose to look down on mortals and people nothing more as cattle, livestock, meat," his metal hands cruched slightly as he closed th eyes of the dead preformer, "way back then they didn't have options... but now... blood drives, donations, medical stuff in general gives them the chance to stop hiding and being hunted... to bring peace..."

Althalos gave an empty chuckle. His eyes were ones of a person who had been through this same song and dance hundreds of thousands of times.

"But they refuse... they continue to hunt y'all down as nothing more than food not caring about yalls family, friends, or those they hurt in the process."

Ash heard him talking, referring to 'long time ago', and after a bit simply concluded he just knew a lot about history because he was a fan of medieval times or something.
He stepped over to the knight, wing on the shoulder plate, and sighs, "That's because they're monsters... They do nothin' but cause pain and misery, that's their natural state, their normal... That's why we... or at least I, do this job. They don't take those other options because they only want to hurt... So we stop the hurtin'."
He looked off in the distance, "Where do ya' think the girl is? Any hints?"